Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-03-31
ABOUT CONVERSATION.
a Rare Gift Which Should Be
Wisely Used.
The Value Of Silence-Don't Talk Shop
OF Slang-The Pedant . Great
Bore-a Boston Plan
Discussed.

1t was a wise man who said that 9Th.
best Of life is conversation. By this
he meant that in all the realm OF
pleasure there is no more soul-satisfy-
ing entertainment than that of oral
discourse. What dreary routine our
lives would be if we were bereft of the
powers of speech. and could communi-
cate with one another only by signs
and symbols, spending our days in a
pantomimic dumb show with sealed
lips. Books, music, the beauties of
nature. the treasures of art, would lose
somewhat of their piquancy and charm
if we could not talk about them. if
the lips were mute. The gift of ex-
preston is a talisman that sways more
people than the scepter of kings The
spell and power Of the spoken word is
greater than any enchantment that
Turks in the devices of art.
We value our friends for the instruc-
ton they give us, and the entertain
ment they afford in conversation. The
good talker carries a passport to the
highest councils A homely visage
loses its ugliness when we are moved by
the oracle of the lips. The. idea may
be old. the truth oft spoken, but Is
Lowell says:
Though old the thought and Of, e1prest
IT'S his 1t last who says ii best
The man who converses we'll always
finds a latch-string waiting to be pulled
at side door. If he lives in an attic.
who would not sit down with him
at pine table and find his surround
ings more luxurious than the tapestried
walls of an old-world palace?
But the best takers know the value
of silence. If they do not disdain triy-
ial subjects. they are not absorbed by
them. 1t is their aim to instruct as
well as amuse. As much depends
upon the tone. the gestures. the earn
cstDess. the meditation of the voice,
the power of concentration. as upon
the selection Of topics and choice of
words. We are more likely to forgive
slips Of grammar than pedantry. if the
idea ''sparkles like salt in fire." The
most searching test is sincerity. If a
sincere man. the wood-chopper. who
has never seen the inside of = school
house, may become an oracle among
men. The courage to face fact. the
ease with which he handles a subject.
the clearness of his vision. the pith of
his sentences. the absence of rhetorical
effort in his discourse, put the rhetori-
clan TO his foils. 1t was Cato who said
that he seldom spoke unless he had
something 10 say that deserved to be
known. Small talk is diverting. and
humor seasons the best discourse. But
these are apt to become fauguing if
continued to excess. Many people talk
TO as little purpose as the foolish spider
spins its silken meshes near the search
ing broom of an industrious housewife,
When we listen to their harangues. We
say. with Hamlet: Words, words,
wordsr'
Good conversation is rs invigorating
as a bracing atmosphere on mount
ain-top. 1t infuses new life in the
veins The best dinner loses its SAVIOR
if there is no table-talk. An eloquent
talker is rs instructive as . good
book. and what he says fingers longer
in the memory. When Madam de
Stael asked the Compile de Segur which
he liked best. her conversations or her
writings, he replied: ''Your CONVEX
,sations. madame; for then you have
not the leisure to become obscure"
Thoreau. in his hut on Walden Pond.
spoke of his New England Nights En-
ter:ainments, when poet sought him
out in his sec;usion. and the converse
ton expanded and racked his little
house" Such is the power of oral ut
terance that it is related of gifted
woman who seldom left the circle of her
friends to shed her influence abroad.
that her presence was ike 1.-THE sun
shining upon plants. and causing buds
20 open into flowers"
Man Is the only talking animal. and
therefore he should not abuse the gift
Words were invented as the vehicle Of
ideas Such rs fail fer that purpose.
though full of music and shining with
light, are useless and redundant. An
easy Conversational style is better than